Sleep Deprivation Causes Mental Stress for Young Adults
Sleep is important for both our physical and mental health. A recent study featured in a Science Daily release found that younger adults who sleep fewer than eight hours at night have higher risks of psychological distress, often a combination of high levels of depressive and anxious symptoms.
The young adults examined in this study were between the ages of 17 and 24. Their risk of psychological distress showed an increase of 14 percent for each hour of sleep they lost at night. The result was that those who slept less than six hours a night were twice as likely to experience distress when compared with average sleepers.
The study also revealed a similar association between the duration of sleep and persistent psychological distress. In fact, the risk that a person with psychological distress at the baseline would still be experiencing distress one year later increased by five percent for each hour of nightly sleep that was lost.
Lead author Nick Glozier noted that young adults who are already experiencing distress will worsen in their experience as sleep decreases. Individuals who slept extremely short sleep durations also experienced the onset of psychological distress which increased as sleep decreased. Those with no psychological distress at the baseline who slept five hours or less per night were three times more likely to experience distress one year later.
According to the 2007 estimates set forth by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 17.9 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 reported serious psychological distress over the previous year.
A mental disorder was reported among 26 percent by the Australia Bureau of Statistics. Sleep deprivation is proving to have long-term effects and the consequences need to be communicated to young adults at risk.
